Saturday, August 02, 2008

[update 10:23 CDT] The turbopump purge pressure was off by 0.5 psi. They are resuming countdown at T-10 minutes shortly.

[update 10:19 CDT] There was an abort at T-0 seconds. They are deciding whether or not to recycle and launch tonight or not. They have 50 minutes in the launch window.

[update 10:00 CDT] The rockete didn't take off. Not sure what happened yet.

[update 9:56 CDT] 5 minutes to go. The arms are open. All is a go!!!!!

[update 9:51 CDT] T-10 minutes and counting.

[update 9:44 CDT] Everything looks good for a 10pm CDT launch.

[update 9:16 CDT] The fuel is being reloaded and they have restarted T-55. They are currently at T-44 and expect to launch about 10pm CDT.

[update 8:06 CDT] Webcast has been put on hold until 8:30 CDT. The helium tanks need more cooling.

[update 7:59 CDT] They have left the hosts and we are now hearing the ground crew talking.

[update 7:53 CDT] According to Kimbal, the hold is due to the Hold is due to extended time needed to cryochill the helium.

[update 7:41 CST] There is another hold at T-16 minutes. Hopefully it is nothing big.

[update 7:40 CDT]They are currently showing a video of Elon Musk giving a tour of the Hawthorne, CA SpaceX facility. The webcast will be posted at http://www.spacex.com/ after the flight if you miss it.

[update 7:25 CDT] The countdown has continued. They are topping off the LOX. Launch expected at 7:55 CDT.

[update 6:37 CDT] LOX loading is complete. They are still on hold but there are two people giving an overview about what we are going to see. Hosts are Max Vozoff and Emily Shanklin.

[update 6:28 CDT] The first stage is full of LOx, the second stage is 50% full. They are on a hold at T-55 minutes.

[update 6:06] They have begun loading the liquid oxygen.

[update 6:03 CDT] There is currently about 1 hour until launch time.

I will be blogging as the night goes on about SpaceX's third launch of the Falcon 1 rocket. You can view the webcast here.